Space Seed edition USS Enterprise

By Oggie Gonzalez

Polar Lights has done such an outstanding job with the Trek kits and they continue the trend with this Space Seed edition. This is a 1/1000 kit that comes with both the familiar USS Enterprise model and the Botany Bay, that infamous ship seen in the Space Seed episode. The kit is a very easy build. There are two challenges with the Enterprise. One is to hide the seam on the secondary hull that is located right where the struts are inserted. This time I used Mr. Putty's Dissolved liquid putty. I really like using this because of the nice control you have with application. Since it's in liquid form, you can brush it right onto the area. You then have to use several grades of sandpaper to smooth it over. I started with 400 grit and moved up to 1200. The other seams on the nacelles, secondary hull spine and belly, and along the primary hull, are all pretty easy to hide. The second challenge is getting the nacelles to slide and orient properly onto the struts. This is the one design flaw, in my opinion, because they don't always rotate easily into position. This time around they did but I can certainly sympathize with other builders who've had issues with them. One other thing I tried this time around, because I've built this ship several times now, is to frost over the bussard collectors. This model comes with 2 pieces that make up the collectors, an inner striated piece and the outer dome. I painted the inner pieces with Tamyia's transparent red then used a dull coat to frost over the outer domes. I was very pleased with the outcome. To me they look like they're glowing on their own. The Botany Bay was very easy to put together. I painted it with a blue/gray color that I mixed together using Light Sea Gray, Insignia blue and flat white. I then used brown and black pastels to add some weathering to the hull. The kit comes with a clever display that includes a metal rod and an additional arm that is used to mount the Botany Bay. The arm can be swung around as you desire. The Enterprise is mounted to the center rod with the use of a nice ball joint piece. This is very cool allows you to tilt the ship if you want. Details of this build can be seen on my YouTube channel. This is a great kit to have and makes for a nice, unique display. I think it's a great one to add to your collection.

Starship Modeler Home | Site Map | Gallery Main Page | Feedback

This page made possible by Starship Modeler™ - copyright © 2014.